The Melbourne Cricket Ground welcomed over 350,000 fans to the stadium for the Boxing Day Test match in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, an aggregate which has shattered the long-standing record of most number of fans to have attended a single Test match in the country, Cricket Australia confirmed on day five of the ongoing thriller between India and Australia.
The much-awaited contest in the week following Christmas, a period which is always the most exciting for Australian cricket fans, has lived up to its billing in the traditional Boxing Day Test match. With crowds exceeding 80,000 on each of the first three days of this Test match, a strong showing on what promises to be a dramatic and decisive fifth day at the MCG means the 87-year-old long-standing record has been surpassed this week.
The record was previously held by the MCG itself, with 350,534 fans turning up across six days to watch the Ashes Test held at the venue in January 1937. The main appeal on the occasion was Sir Donald Bradman, who had at that point established himself as Australia’s first national celebrity and received the frenzied hype to back that up.
Indian fans show in force at the MCG
With many of the fans at the MCG being Indian fans on this occasion, the stadium was a full house for the first three days, as Nitish Kumar Reddy’s century felt almost as if it was being scored in front of a home crowd. Although just over 40,000 people attended day four, CA were reportedly surprised by an upturn in attendance in the morning of day five, with 50,000+ fans coming through the gate in the first session.
{{/usCountry}}With many of the fans at the MCG being Indian fans on this occasion, the stadium was a full house for the first three days, as Nitish Kumar Reddy’s century felt almost as if it was being scored in front of a home crowd. Although just over 40,000 people attended day four, CA were reportedly surprised by an upturn in attendance in the morning of day five, with 50,000+ fans coming through the gate in the first session.
{{/usCountry}}The MCG projects over 70,000 people to attend day five over the course of day’s play, which would boost the total number of attendees at the MCG this week over that 350,000 mark. Day one on Boxing Day, a carnival-like occasion in Australian cricket, saw a remarkable 87,000 people through the doors for the start of a memorable contest.
CA announced that tickets for day five would be sold at AUD 10, roughly INR 530, while entry for children under 15 would be free of cost, adding to the accessibility of the match for the Melbourne crowd.
The single-day mark stands short of several matches, but the overall mark moves this match into the second-highest attended match in the history of the sport, with the historic India vs Pakistan at the Eden Gardens in 1999 continuing to set the mark with an unbelievable 465,000 across five days of the match.